Local councillor Thomas O’Reilly claimed £22,396.02 in expenses during the 2012 to 2013 financial year
FERMANAGH councillors claimed over £90,000 in expenses in the last financial year, it has been revealed.
On top of that all 23 councillors are given a standard salary of £9,738 each but are allowed to claim expenses which include a special responsibility allowance, business travel and standard expenses.
The special responsibility allowance is an additional expense given to councillors who carry out more senior roles or who have extra duties within a particular department.
However, under the council’s guidelines for expenses it states that no more than 50 per cent of councillors should receive the special responsibility allowance but out of the 23 local representatives, 15 claimed under this expense.
Under the business travel category councillors can claim allowances for public transport, car mileage, supplements, taxis, air fares, car parking and day/overnight subsistence allowances.
Other allowances, including food and office costs, falls under the expenses group where a councillor can claim back money for eating out while carrying out council duties.
The Sinn Fein councillor Thomas O’Reilly, who was last year’s chairman, topped the list claiming £22,396.02 in expenses during the 2012 to 2013 financial year.
As a chairman, Mr O’Reilly would have to carry out extra duties and travel extra miles compared to his council colleagues as he is invited to formal events as well as greeting visiting delegates.
Also in the top ten claimants were the DUP’s Harold Andrews who claimed £18,630.14, Paul Robinson who claimed £17,824.94 and Sinn Fein’s Brian McCaffrey who claimed back £16,538.21.
Sinn Fein’s Barry Doherty did not claim any expense throughout the whole year receiving only his basic councillor’s salary.
Last year’s chairman Mr O’Reilly outlined where the expenses amounted from.
He said: “Council representative officials attend functions on behalf of the council, whether that is near to where you live or far away and whether you are chair or a councillor.
“I would have attended different events wherever the chair was invited to or attended receptions at the town hall or wherever the various duties took me.
“My role took me to Enniskillen and all sorts of events where I would have presented prizes and said a few words or welcomed people into the county and that is what you get travel expenses for.
“If you are a chair of a committee and you have extra duties then you can claim for the special responsibility allowance (SRA).
“As chairman I had all these functions and various delegates to meet on behalf of the council, like the G8.
“I would have been out on a daily basis and that includes weekends. You could claim if you were eating out during a council duty.”
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